Presently aboard commercial aircraft, food and beverages are served by flight attendants from a cart which is moved along the central aisle or aisles of the aircraft. On short flights, it is sometimes difficult to serve all of the passengers in this manner due to a lack of time. It is desirable, therefore, to provide some means for allowing the passengers to obtain food and beverages without having to leave their seats.
A number of apparatus have been disclosed for providing food and beverages from a dispenser located near a passenger's seat. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,615,118 by Buxton there is described a compartment located inside an aircraft seatback for storing prepackaged food.
Similarly, Nance in U.S. Pat. No. 3,049,374 describes a food container which is stored in an aircraft seatback and which swings downward and rearward from the seatback for access by a passenger sitting behind the seat.